'High Fidelity' A guy flick

John Cusack as record store owner on target in casual comedy

Published: Friday, April 07, 2000

WILLIAM KERNSA-J Entertainment Editor

John Cusack and director Stephen Frears have made a guy flick without explosives.

And a funny one, at that.

"High Fidelity," which is quite faithful to Nick Hornby's novel well, aside from changing the locale from London to Chicago is a casual comedy that has its finger on the male pulse. Cusack stars as a 30-something owner of a record store (remember records?) who slowly recognizes that he has yet to give up his adolescence and, indeed, weighs pros and cons before accepting adulthood.

Mind you, it takes someone with Cusack's general likability to pull off a movie like this. On a more obvious level, Frears and the screenwriting team actually often ask Cusack to break down barriers, look at the camera and speak directly to the audience.

Such tactics rarely have worked in the past, yet Cusack's conversational performance actually increases empathy, drawing viewers into the story.

More subtle is the fact that Cusack's character actually can be an unforgivable pig at times. Lapses in judgment are brought back as reminders while he spends the movie (a) wondering why he is unable to sustain a relationship and (b) trying to earn another chance with Iben Hjejle, the latest girlfriend to jettison him like so much extra baggage.

True, at the same time audiences may wonder (a) why Cusack doesn't move along with his life and (by) why Hjejle did not leave sooner. But answers to these questions eventually are provided as Frears leads us to believe in happy endings.

In keeping with the pop music spirit of the piece, Cusack introduces his plight by listing the Top Five heartbreaks in his life, dating back to junior high school. And in fact, his employees at the record store Jack Black and Todd Louiso are the best movie sidekicks to arrive in quite a while while away their free time by challenging each other with varied Top Five lists. It could spark a trend.

The picture hits home, however, because so many viewers will feel that they already know the guys on screen men wondering where they made the wrong turn and never looking for answers within, guys who line up their albums on shelves alphabetically or, in Cusack's case, in chronological order of relationships, and record store employees who, well, just love being record store employees.

I swear I heard a couple of Cusack's lines uttered by local record store owner Ralph DeWitt years ago especially the one about part-time employees just showing up every day.

The movie does grow a tad repetitive at times. (Then again, movies with Cusack lonely in the rain are repetitive.) Frears has been far more impressive with such films as "Dangerous Liaisons" and "The Grifters," but he's to be applauded for taking an honest approach here.

While the storyteller is allowed to be funny you'll howl when Cusack asks, "Who's Ian?" Frears also makes sure that warts and mistakes are exposed in the process.

The comedy works to varying degrees throughout, including a wonderful dream sequence that finds Cusack more aggressively confronting his ex-girlfriend's lover, played by Tim Robbins.

But even Cusack recognizes that he is in the presence of a master (scene) thief when playing opposite Jack Black.

The latter is the lovably obnoxious employee a fellow willing to lose a potential sale if an innocent walks in and leaves his musical taste outside. Black is a constant hoot and also has a major surprise in store near the end for those unaware of his off-screen background.

Then there's Joan Cusack, John Cusack's real-life sister, who defends the shop owner only until she hears what he's done.

In a manner of speaking, she speaks for a portion of the audience. Let's face it, guys can be pigs and a lot of them would be ready to buy Cusack's character a beer and trade war stories while sharing emotional wounds and favorite sad songs.

Women? They may not be as forgiving, but I have a hunch that they will laugh at this movie a lot, all the same.

William Kerns can be contacted at 766-8712 or wkerns@lubbockonline.com